(#62) The Proverbs of Solomon 12:24-Who Deserves Slavery?

Since God Created humans, only God can provide specific understanding of human behavior. God gave Solomon Divine Wisdom (1 Kings Chapters 3 and 10) to explain what and why behavior is as it is, and Proverbs 10:1-24:34 are randomly written, as if they were Solomon’s judgments about individual cases brought to him, or simply God-given explanations about life. New Testament passages may help see the continuation of Wisdom offered through Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 12:24: “The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.”

“Diligence” means to never give up, or to be persistent. The “diligent” have an objective, work toward their objective, and achieve their objective, hence they “will rule,” always! Solomon wisely appointed Jeroboam, who was “industrious,” over his workers (1 Kings 11:28). Any government, society, or corporation populated by those who haven’t worked their way up will fail, falter, and fall! Workers who are more concerned about their own benefits than benefitting the company are accomplishing little. While Karl Marx was writing his book of class conflict wherein workers coveted the profits of companies, Frederic Bastiat’s writings were defending Libertarian principles of individual freedom and limited government, which included: “Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone.”

The grand fallacy that profits are created at the expense of workers has become a rallying cry of the increasingly lazy souls who desire more tyranny and dictatorship in order to share in profits they have done little or nothing to create! “He who is slothful in his work Is a brother to him who is a great destroyer” (Proverbs 18:9). The lazy destroy productivity by attaching themselves to those who are diligent!

Other proverbs describe characteristics of the “lazy” one: (1) “The lazy man says, ‘There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!’” (Proverbs 22:13). The lazy imagine fear of failure to justify their lack of effort. (2) “I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man” (Proverbs 24:30-34 ). Laziness spreads incrementally with “a little” sleep, slumber, folding of the hands. This creeping “poverty” attacks by stealth, very much like the creeping socialism which has very slowly consumed Constitutional protections of “rugged individualism.” Every country, state, or city that has implemented Karl Marx’s socialism ended in depression, dereliction, and destruction, because it gave to the lazy by taking from the productive. (3) “The lazy man says, ‘There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion is in the streets!’ As a door turns on its hinges, So does the lazy man on his bed. The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can answer sensibly” (Proverbs 26:13-16). The lazy man gives up personal independence because of “a lion;” has no personal progress, like a door; has no personal responsibility to even feed himself; and common sense is crowded out of his mind! The lazy support bigger government to provide all the things they are too lazy to do for themselves. And plantation politicians love to have it so! The lazy may think they have won their “free existence,” when they actually have only produced “forced labor.” There is nothing “free” for being lazy!

All Scriptures and comments are based upon the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.